CNN contributor and conservative Mary Katharine Ham on Friday publicly hit her own network for being “dishonest” in their coverage of podcast host Joe Rogan taking doctor-prescribed Ivermectin when he got COVID.
CNN notably linked the medicine to “horse dewormer” when reporting on Rogan, and neglected to report on his five-day recovery, the host said when confronting CNN medical expert Dr. Sanjay Gupta, earlier this week.
“Rogan is right that it’s dishonest to say he took horse dewormer when he did not,” Ham tweeted, referring to CNN coverage.
“It was irresistible to dunk on him for a lot of people, so they went with that instead of sticking to ‘hey, this anti-parasitic isn’t recommended for COVID treatment,’ which would’ve been credible,” she said.
Rogan is right that it’s dishonest to say he took horse dewormer when he did not. It was irresistible to dunk on him for a lot of people, so they went with that instead of sticking to “hey, this anti-parasitic isn’t recommended for COVID treatment,” which would’ve been credible. https://t.co/tF2tIuHyPD
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 15, 2021
Ham was quickly rebuked for part of her post by a conservative at The Federalist.
Political editor John Daniel Davidson responded to Ham, “Well, it WAS recommended by Rogan’s doctor, so that also wouldn’t be credible,” he wrote. “And it’s not like Rogan’s doc is the only one in the country recommending Ivermectin off-label. The MOST they could have said, credibly, is that the CDC doesn’t recommend it.”
“Agreed, I’m not looking to explicate the entire Ivermectin fight in one tweet,” Ham replied. “That was shorthand for a pronouncement that would have been more suitable than ‘he’s taking horse dewormer,’ which is just straight, well, horses***.”
“I’m happy for folks to take it safely & half expect there may end up being better data later on,” she added.
Agreed, I’m not looking to explicate the entire Ivermectin fight in one tweet. That was shorthand for a pronouncement that would have been more suitable than “he’s taking horse dewormer,” which is just straight, well, horseshit. I’m happy for folks to take it safely & half expect
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 15, 2021
Though Ham called out CNN’s shoddy reporting, evening host Don Lemon doubled down the network’s Ivermectin claim relative to Rogan. Gupta seemed to backtrack his agreement with Rogan on the podcast, too. The Daily Wire reported:
Speaking to CNN medical expert Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Lemon said, “It is not a lie to say that [Ivermectin] is used as a horse dewormer. I think that’s important. And it is not approved for COVID.”
“Correct, that is correct and it is not approved for COVID,” Gupta responded, adding, “But you know, there’s still a few ongoing trials around Ivermectin. But if you look at the data, there is no evidence that it really works [against COVID] here.”
“The Joe Rogan Experience” host took the medicine after it was prescribed to him by his doctor, and he recovered from the virus in five days. The host made it a point to emphasize on his podcast with Gupta that he did not take “horse dewormer,” but a drug that has been used by millions, if not billions of people, though largely to treat internal waterborne parasites.
Lemon and CNN were quickly blasted online. “CNN and [Don Lemon] are pathetic,” journalist Glenn Greenwald posted. “There is zero ambiguity they lied about Joe Rogan. They told viewers he took horse dewormer: a 100% lie. He took the human version of ivermectin prescribed by his medical doctor.”
“But as I said, lying is not frowned upon at CNN: it’s encouraged,” Greenwald added.
In an op-ed published at CNN, Gupta rationalized why he appeared on Rogan’s podcast, apparently feeling the need to do so. The doctor claimed he went on the show to convince Rogan to get the COVID-19 vaccine, though Rogan has already been infected and likely has antibodies.
Ironically, during the interview, Gupta slammed Rogan for being set in his ways and unable to change his mind upon hearing new information and a different perceptive.
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Source: Dailywire
